Amitywood
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4th April 1999: 03:10pm
The cold drizzle of the newly reawakened rain and the cracks of thunder rattled throughout the valley which nestled Amitywood like an over-protective mother from the worst of the storm which was beating down on the town. Any ordinary afternoon such as this would have caused all but the most determined of citizens to be inside, sheltered from the weather. This was no ordinary afternoon, however, with cold thoughts of murder fresh in the air for a few of the citizens of the quiet village.
Three figures were working their way through the mud towards the edge of the rocky-surfaced hill which ran closest to the village of Amitywood, led by Donald Ran who was following the directions of Young Jones and carrying a rather weak oil lamp, which was proving scant use against the darkness of the storm, and followed shortly by Blue canary carrying a large blanket given to him by Del Sinclair, in case it was needed.
"You think Hughes will be able to find Sergeant Lang?" said Jones shakily
"I'm sure he will, I doubt he could have gone far... where to now, Jones?", Donald Ran paused at a junction in what passed as a pathway towards the hill.
"Over this way," said Jones, pointing towards the surface of the hill to their left "She's just behind that rock!"
As they approached the rock, which lay only a few feet away from a foot of the hill, they could see a pair of legs, laying motionless, as if to warn them of what was all-but-hidden behind the foreboding rock. This seemed to slow their pace as they rounded the rock and saw the child lying motionless and cold.
She was a young, probably in her late teens or early twenties, with long dark hair and skin that looked like it was probably as pale in life as it was now as she lay dead. She was wearing a white dress and sandles, and the cause of death was obvious. Her dress, her arms and, thanks to the rain, the ground surrounding her were covered in blood. The source of which was a large bloody hole just above her stomach. The wound was perfectly rounded, and didn't seem to have torn her dress anywhere outside of the neat circle, but appeared to be deep, possibly going all the way through her fragile frame.
The three stood staring in shock at the scene before them. Most shocking of all was not the blood washing around her by the beating of the rain, or the mysteriously neat wound in the girl, but the look on the girl's face. Except for Jones, who had already seen the body but was nonetheless still taken aback to be here again, the men were silently alarmed by the look of indifference upon the girls face. There was no fear, pain or anger, which they might have expected. Just a blank stare, perhaps only slightly frowning, up at the dark clouds high above.
"Who is she? Do you recognise her, Blue?" Donald interrupted the silence
"No... I can't say I do," replied Blue Canary, stepping forward to look down at the girl "I did expect it to be someone from here though. I haven't seen any visitors or even any passers-by in a good few weeks."
"Yes... I haven't either. I'm sure if anyone strange has been in the area someone would have noticed though?" said Donald, as he pulled out a flare and lit it as he set it on the rock "That ought to help Sergeant Lang find us..."
Lit up by the flare, the body of the unknown victim was even more ominous so Blue Canary covered her with the blanket as they waited for Sergeant Lang to arrive, who's figure was vaguely visible now in the distance, on horseback and heading towards them.
High above them a figure ducked back from the edge of a cliff as the area was illuminated. He took a deep breath and walked slowly, ducked down, towards the cave where he had been hiding from the rain.
"Is it ok? Do they know?" came a female voice, echoing from the back of the cave somewhere
Still standing at the edge of the cave, peering out at the faint figure of Sergeant Lang galloping along towards the hill he replied , "Yes, it's fine... they don't know... we'll just need to be careful in the coming days... if that Jones had been any earlier the whole thing could have been ruined and we might not have gotten away!"
He seemed to curse the air for a moment.
"So... the plan is still going ahead?" came the slightly shaken female voice again
"Yes... everything is still falling into place... I just hope this murder doesn't put our friend the Governor off paying a visit..."
"I'm sure it won't, dear"
As she spoke she emerged from the cave and the two shadows embraced each other as they stared across the darkened valley of Amitywood...
(to be continued...)
